Suspect in Houston doctor’s death takes life after confronted by police

Suspect in Houston doctor’s death takes life after confronted by police

HOUSTON — Houston Police have confirmed that Joseph Pappas, 62, has killed himself after police confronted him Friday morning.

As police have been hunting the man they believe killed a prominent Houston doctor, their suspect in the July 20 shooting seems to have been leading a double life.

Joseph Pappas, 62, has done ordinary things, like mowing his own lawn, a neighbor reported. But he also handed a courier paperwork to transfer his home deed and told the beneficiary he planned to kill himself, she told a newspaper.

The details have emerged as investigators are even more convinced that Pappas “painstakingly planned” the bizarre daylight execution of Dr. Mark Hausknecht — carried out as both men rode bicycles — possibly as revenge for his mother’s death 20 years ago under the doctor’s care, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told CNN.

Further, the notion that Pappas, a trained marksman who worked for 30 years as a Texas constable, apparently has been hiding in plain sight while putting his affairs in order adds even more intrigue to a murder that already had put the nation’s fourth most populous city on edge.

Though an officer reported that a light was on inside the home and a back gate was open, Pappas wasn’t there, Slinkard said.

Now, as the manhunt drags on, police continue to warn that Pappas could be armed and dangerous, and — thanks to his law enforcement background — have access to police radio and tactical channels to monitor the dragnet police have cast to catch him, Acevedo said.

Anxious to transfer deed

Though Pappas’ whereabouts Friday morning still were a mystery, his activities since Hausknecht’s killing were becoming more clear.

The day before the shooting, Pappas, who also worked as a real estate agent, transferred the deed to his southwest Houston home to a woman who lives in Ohio. And he appeared to be in a rush to make that happen.

A courier who went to Pappas’ home three days after the killing to fetch deed paperwork and take it to a courthouse said Pappas was acting strangely.

“He was very nervous,” said Joe Donalson of Legal Express Texas.

Pappas cracked the door open and peeked out, then opened the door wider.

He was “looking up and down the street, to see if anybody else was there. And then he passed me the envelope,” Donalson said.

Pappas called Donalson three times that day to make sure the documents were filed, the courier said. He said the transaction seemed odd to him, but his line of work demands confidentiality so he didn’t ask many questions.

The document transferred the home deed to a woman from Ohio on July 19, but didn’t indicate whether the three-bedroom, 2,100 square foot ranch house was sold. Donalson said he was unable to pick up the paperwork on July 19, and Pappas called him again on July 23 to pick it up.

In an interview with the News-Herald in Ohio, Janette Spencer of Painsville said she received notification in the mail on July 23 that the home had been deeded to her. CNN reached out to her Thursday but didn’t receive a reply.

“I called him on the 24th and he said he had a terminal illness, and that’s why he deeded (me) the house,” Spencer told the paper. She said she’s known Pappas for about 25 years.

One of Spencer’s daughters was supposed to meet Pappas on July 30 when she visited Houston. However, Pappas texted Spencer that day to tell her he was committing suicide and gave her instructions on how to secure the house.

“Sorry for handling things this way,” the text said, according to the paper. “House and property is now yours. Please make best use of it for you and (your daughter).”

Spencer told the paper they tried to contact Pappas after receiving that text, but calls went straight to voice mail. They then called police.

A delinquent property tax statement from Harris County, Texas, shows Pappas owed $4,409 in back taxes, penalties and interest on the property. The notice said that if the amount wasn’t paid in August, the property would be subject to a lien.

Donalson said he called police after watching a news conference in which Police Chief Art Acevedo named Pappas, 62, as the suspect in the case.

Acevedo told reporters that evidence indicated Pappas put a lot of planning into the alleged crime.

20-year grudge?

Police also searched Pappas’ home earlier this week after getting a tip from a neighbor.

“We found plenty of evidence that shows an extreme interest by (Pappas) in the doctor,” Acevedo told CNN on Thursday.

“If you think about his fascination with the doctor and the fact that he ends up killing this man in cold blood, the only thing we can think of is the connection between his mother dying over 20 years ago during surgery,” Acevedo said. “Until we talk to him, we can’t say definitively that that’s the motivation behind this killing, but there’s nothing else that would explain it.”

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Pappas after they searched his home and did not find him. The suspect has multiple firearms and has made phone calls indicating he was considering suicide, Acevedo has said. He said Pappas might still be suicidal.

“This man is dangerous, this man is capable, this man has some skills (with firearms),” he said.

Errol Francis, who has lived near Pappas for many years, told CNN that the suspect was “sort of a lonely person.”

Francis said he would see Pappas only when he mowed the lawn, including four days ago. He was always a quiet guy, Francis said.

Pappas’ parents had lived there, Francis said, and when the mother died in 1997, he didn’t notice any change in the son’s behavior.

Suspect’s number is linked to firearms website

Pappas worked for three decades as a constable, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. He worked for Harris County as a peace officer and a reserve officer from May 1983 to July 2013.

Pappas took law enforcement classes through August last year, documents indicate.

Police said Pappas and Hausknecht were on their bicycles on July 20 when the suspect rode past the doctor before turning around and fatally shooting him. Surveillance images showed the suspected gunman just behind Hausknecht as both headed north on a highly trafficked street in Houston’s Medical Center district during rush hour, police said.

The prominent surgeon and former cardiologist for President George H.W. Bush was found near a construction site where hundreds of workers were present, but the equipment was loud enough to mask the sounds of gunfire.

CNN called a phone number listed for Pappas’ real estate company Wednesday, but the call went to voice mail.

That phone number is linked to recent listings on a firearms auction website for several guns, ammunition, tactical vests and ballistic plates for car doors. The posts, from a user in Houston, apparently went online days after the shooting.

It is unclear whether any of the firearms listed online were used in the shooting. A spokesman for Houston police declined to comment on the ads.

Doctor remembered as gentle and caring

Hausknecht and his wife, Georgia Hsieh, lived in an upscale neighborhood not far from the Texas Medical Center in southwest Houston. In addition to his wife, who is a retired emergency room physician, Hausknecht is survived by two adult sons, Matthew and Paul.

Hausknecht’s family released a statement Thursday thanking Houston police and others who helped identify a suspect, and asking the public to focus on Pappas’ photo and contact police if they know where he is.

Friends and colleagues remembered the doctor as a quiet, generous and kind person.

“He was very gentle, he was very caring, he offered a lot to people in need,” Dr. Neal Kleiman said. “That was his personality and that was his family’s personality, too.”